Where's my happy medium?

Yesterday I didn't eat any candy, and I was FINE! I totally made it, didn't even think about it. Come to think about it, I didn't eat any the day before either. But today I've decided I'm going to see how long I can go with out it. I'll make it so it's really a treat instead of one of my food groups. And the song "tootsie rolls are all I see, what ever it is I think I see, becomes a tootsie roll to me! ... tootsie roll I think I'm in love with you.." will not stop going through my head. I'm in trouble. I'm so lucky there are no longer any tootsie rolls in my house because the temptation would be far too great. So I can't go to the store because I might accidently buy some. Ahhhhhhh!!!!

Anyway, in other news, I have some of the cutest kids ever! See for yourself.



I came in my room to see Drake asleep like that on my bed. Don't worry, I saved him.

Giddy up birthday boys!

We have some one year old boys! Tuesday the 17th, Drake and Jack turned one!! I sill can not even believe they're not babies anymore. Tara and I had so much fun putting together their cowboy birthday.

We bought them little cowboy boots, hats, and then we made their little leather vests!

We were suprised at how much they liked wearing their cowboy hats! They had a blast eating cake! They dug right in.

Then the day after their birthday, they proved to their moms how big they are now. We went to the doctor for their one year appointment and shots. They both cried when they got the shots, but as soon as they were done and we were able to pick them up, they stopped crying right away. Thank goodness!!!

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INDEPENDENCE DAY!! ... a little late

Okay, I figured I better hurry and get this up before Drake and Jack's birthday tomorrow and have to get that up too.



We had an awesome Independence Day! We drove up to Utah to participate in the Christensen 4th of July extravaganza. We started the day (with only two hours of sleep) at the Provo parade. It was so cool, and where else will you see the missionaries walking in a parade with the Mission President and his wife riding in a sweet car?



After the parade, we had many fun games and swimming, and lots of yummy food. Then the culminating moments of the day...Cul-de-sac o' FIRE! The neighborhood gathers in the Christensen's cul de sac to march in the sparkler parade and watch the fireworks fly! We had so much fun and got eaten alive by mosquitos!

One night, we were up late playing Wii and Dan Barney (Emily's brother in law who just got his PhD in art) gave Emily and I henna tattoos. They were so cool, we got the "evil eye" on our hands. It's supposed to protect you from people who might be saying not so nice things about you.

We also had the opportunity to go to dinner with Josh and Summer Adams, then have dessert at Molly and Darren's. Molly's amazing! She just had a baby (Marie Chantel), but still made a cake for Gwen and I to blow out candles on for our birthdays. Thanks so much Molly, you're the greatest! And Emily's sweet mom Carol and niece Sunshine, also made me a cake for my birthday! Thank you so much! You don't know how much that meant to me! We had so much fun spending this amazing holiday with our friends and family.
We love our country so much and are so grateful to live here.
God Bless America!

Star struck!

So last night was one of the most fun nights of my life! I went with Gavin and Emily to a show - for one of the best bands ever! The Rocket Summer!! So we're happy enough even being there. Then while we were scoping out the merchandise, we see a guy that looks an aweful lot like Benji Schwimmer!!!! We are big time SYTYCD fans, we we just had to go up to him and ask if we could take a picture with him. He was so sweet and actually posed for three pictures while we had flash issues. And yes, Emily and I couldn't take our eyes off him even for a picture. Cheese balls? Perhaps, but we thought we were funny! We talked to him for a bit, and learned that he has was a photography major, he still wears his mission ring (he went to some place in Mexico that I can't pronounce and so therefore can't remember the name), and that he has a girlfriend that I caught at least one cold look from. YESS!! He also said he's good friends with "the boys" (meaning Rocket Summer). Oh yah, we remembered he DID do a dance to one of their songs. I found this LITTLE clip of him dancing to a Rocket Summer song. (it's not a very good clip, but you'll get the idea)

So yes, the show was amazing, Bryce can rock out! But I'd have to say that Benji was the highlight of our night-well maybe not Gavin's. So for those of you wondering who Benji is, or those of you who just want to see a cute montage of Benji, click here. (Plus the video has a really good song even though it' s not a rocket summer song)

I's three!

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Our little girl is three! I can't even believe it. She is so grown up now. Her birthday was Sunday, so we had two days to celebrate. Saturday we went to see Ratatouille which was marvelous, then we had a swimming party and home made Cafe Rio salads. (thanks for the recipe Summer!) Then on her birthday, she got breakfast in bed along with a pedicure and a manicure. Then after church we had Gavin, Emily, Sharod, Tawnya, Kolby, Andrew, Tara, Jessylee, and Gigi over for dinner, cake and icecream. She was showered with awesome presents, thank you everyone! And of course, she had to have her Tinkerbell cake that she has been talking about non stop for the past four days! And even today when she talked to her cousin Claire, she had to tell her she had a Tinkerbell cake and it's almost gone. And another gift Gwen got, was that she gets to share her birthday with her new cousin, Marie Chantelle. Molly and Darren's newest baby. Congratulations guys!
So happy birthday to the raddest girl I know! I love you Gwen!

Chick Fil A

So Tawnya calls me up Wednesday night to tell me that her and her friend Jaque are going to get in line at Chick Fil A and camp out so they can be one of the first 100 customers when it opens the next day, and therefore get a year supply of Chick Fil A for FREE!!! And they were wondering if I wanted to come? Um heck yes I do!! The kids are even in bed already! So we set up at tent, read magazines, and even invited others over for a SMORE party! We met some fun people and had lots of girl talk. Because the one thing we didn't do was sleep. It was too hot to sleep. It cooled down to like 80 degrees, but realize we were sleeping on the hot asphalt that didn't cool down. We had fun nonetheless. So at 4:45, they called everone from their tents to clean up, and get in line. I had my year's worth of coupons in my hands by 6:00 in the morning! Just enough time to make it home before Ryan left for work. I was able to do all that in the time my kids were sleeping. Too bad they were waking up when I got home and that meant no nap for Kristin. All in all it was a fantastic experience. It reminded me of something I would have done in college. I need to do more fun stuff like this so I don't turn into an old fart. The funny part about this-I'd never had Chick-Fil-A before. SO I didn't even know if it was good. Luckily they gave us samples and ice cream through out the night, so I found out it was worth it.

lil' scooter

Drake is now eleven months old, and I've been asked by many, "is he crawling yet?" The answer is no, he's not crawling, he's scooting. It is so stinkin' cute! Gwen was the same way though. She did the same scoot thing, but one of her legs was up. I was worried about the hand leg coordination thingy, but she started crawling the week before she started walking, so she DID figure it out. She also never cruised. She would just start standing in the middle of the room, and eventually she just started taking steps from that point. I wonder if Drake's going to be the same way because he definately doesn't like it when I stand him up to things. So enjoy the videos of the cutest little scooter around.

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The public bathroom

I have a problem. That is a little girl almost 3, and a son almost one. Of course they are so much fun and bring copious amounts of joy to my life, when it's just them and me things can get difficult. For example, Gwen is now potty trained. But that also means that when she says she needs to go, I've got to start looking for a bathroom pronto squanto! But picture this scenerio. In the grocery store, cart full of food and my two offspring, Gwen says she needs to go. We head to the bathroom where I have to get the kids and my purse out of the cart because I can't take a cart full of merchandise into the bathroom. So we head to the handicap stall so there's room for the three of us in there. No baby changing table in the stall, so I have to hold Drake (since he's not walking/standing) while I cover the toilet seat with scads of toilet paper so Gwen's little bum doesn't touch a public toilet, then gently set her on top of it so it doesn't fall in the toilet, wipe her and help her down, all one handed. Then while she's pulling up her pants, I realize I really need to go too. But I've done this before, I can totally hold Drake, hover and then re-dress myself one handed. But oh no, Gwen's DONE! Despite my instructions to keep the door shut, mommy's not dressed yet, Gwen's opening the stall door. Of course this is also the same time that all the women in the other stalls are now out buzzing around our stall. I quickly am trying to pull up my pants, balance my purse and Drake, and can't figure why my pants are not up yet. Of course, Drake's foot is in the way, keeping my pants down. Oh the humiliation. People have asked, "And none of the women out there helped you?". But I figure they thought it was better to pretend they didn't see, and pretend they didn't know what was going on. Oh they saw. They knew. But how do I change this sequence of events? Because guess what? It happened again, the very next day at Costco!

Happy Father's Day!

To the wonderful father's in our lives. Happy Father's Day!
Ryan is such a good daddy to our sweet kids. He works so hard, and when he comes home they are so happy to see him. Usually Gwen will run up to him and give him a big hug! She likes to talk about her daddy's muscles and how they are so big! And one of her favorite conversation sequences goes like this: "Daddy?", "what?" "I love you, yours awesome!" She's such a daddy's girl! He already bought her her first golf clubs and likes to show her how to hit the ball. She loves her daddy daughter time. Ryan is also so proud of his "Drakey boy". I know they'll be so close as Drake grows.

Oh Grandpa, where do I begin? Grandpa is one of the funniest men I know. We are so lucky and blessed to have him be such a wonderful example to us. He joined the church when he was 18 right before being drafted for WW2 but had a strong testimony and has been such a strong member of the church ever since. He strongly believes that family is the most important thing we have, and we are so lucky to have him as a part of our family!

I never had the chance to meet Ryan's dad. He passed away seven years ago. But even though I've never met him, I know that he was a wonderful father to all of his children. He must have been an incredible father with how amazing all of his children turned out! He taught Ryan so much about how to be honest and noble. He was such a strong, faithful man, and a hard worker as well. I love it when Ryan shares stories about his dad and talks to the kids about their Grandpa McPhie.

And to Papa. He is a crack up!! He is so silly and we love it! And let me tell you, this man knows meat. It is not unusual that we might drop by unannounced on a random evening to find him making dinner, and the dinner is usaully eight huge steaks on the BBQ!!! Let me remind you that it's just him and my mom at home now! So Ryan LOVES that! He also is an avid fisher. He got Gwen a pole and taught her how to cast it. I never noticed this about him until I went away to BYU and came home, but he has a Navajo accent. We love it! He has been such a great support to me and I love him so much. I know I always can go to him, and I'm so lucky to have such a good dad.

Busy week

Highlights of the week:

*Tuesday Ryan called me from work to tell me that he had tickets for us to go to the Diamondbacks game...in the OWNER'S SUITE!! It was so fun, and fully catered! I ate two bowls (of the best salsa ever) all by myself! Plus, we won in the 10th inning against the SF Giants. Go DBACKS!

*Gwen's first dance class! It was so cute to see her with the other girls, and while the other girls kept dancing, having her come up to me and say ... well just watch the video, you have to see for yourself.

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That little ballet prodigee in the black leotard is Gwen's cousin Haylee.

*Monday my friend Meg invited Gwen and I to go to a movie with her and her daughter Rachel, and she brought lots of yummy candy! Thanks Meg!

*Working out. Tuesday I got worked by a trainer!! Ryan and I are determined to get into good shape, and evidently Gwen's been watching! The other day I came downstairs to see her checking her body fat!

*Dinner with the BYU girls-teppanyaki style!

*Lunch with my sister in laws, Emily Eager and Emily McPhie, and trying bingsoo. It was scrumptious!

*Having Gwen WANT to help me clean the bathrooms, and while she's cleaning the toilet say "I'm cleaning the toilet, I clean, I'm a good mommy like you."!! Melted my heart! Gwen you can always clean with me!

And the not so fun stuff:

*Coming out Wednesday morning to find the pool half full!

this is after a few hours of having the hose on. Basically something's broken and that just means lots of money. :(

*Gwen having big D and not making it to the toilet FOUR times! Poor girl, she's better now.

*Missing my first Hip Hop dance class Tuesday, but it was to go to the DBacks game with my cute hubs, so that's okay.

*Drake waking up in puke today and having an upset stomach all day. My poor little guy. To remember better days...

He's my sweet, happy, clappy, cuddler! Get better soon buster!

ears are for...

listening to birds, for everybody talking, and when my mommy says "shhh".

a late Memorial Day post

First off, Memorial Day was also

Grandpa's Birthday!

Happy 83rd birthday Grandpa.

He is as we like to say "as old as the hills and twice as dirty"!

We love him so much and appreciate the good influence he is to all of us!

So to celebrate we had a BBQ and swimming at our house. Lot's of food, fun and sun. :) Observe...

In addition to the family, we had the
Jacksons over. Their daughter Kinlee, is only three weeks older than Drake. So we get Drake, Kinlee and Jack together every Thursday for playday.

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fun blog game

I found this blog game I thought I'd try, and it came out pretty darn funny! Here's how you play. You google your name with needs after it. So I googled "Kristin needs" and this is what I came up with. And I'm deadly serious about the last one, that really came up! ;)
1. Kristin needs to move
2. Kristin needs to re-think the top (maybe she should take a look at safari chic examples)
3. Kristin needs sleep
4. Kristin needs to write this English paper
5. Kristin needs food
6. Kristin needs to wash her socks because she will need them on Sunday morning
7. Kristin needs to add chlorine to the hot tub
8. Kristin needs to stir it up
9. Kristin needs a family who can provide for her
10. Kristin needs more bastardly love!!!!

nursery

I'm getting old

Tawnya and Jasmyn

My friend's birthday is today. Jasmyn Anderson. I love her so much! We were on cheer together in highschool and have been such good friends ever since. She's married to Joel and has an adorable son Kaden. Happy Birthday. Anyway she's 27 today, and my sister Tawnya just turned 27 on the 16th. So that got me thinking. I'm going to be 26 in two months! That's so weird. Last week, I don't remember who was asking or why, but I was asked my age, to which I replied "24". Ryan looked at me like I was joking-I wasn't. So he corrected me and told me I was 25. How could I have forgotten? That means on this next birthday I will no longer be in my early twenties, but in my LATE TWENTIES!! How did this happen? Last week one of my new favorite bands (This Providence) was playing at the Marquee theater with Quietdrive of which I'm also a fan. So Ryan and I went. While we were there we played a game: "Who here is older than us?". Honestly most the people there were teenagers! When did this happen? When I was their age all the good shows were 21 and over so I had a fake id to get into those shows (no, not to drink!). :) So the majority of the people there that were older than us were the parents who were chaperoning their kids.

At least Ryan will always be older than me. :) I love you Ryan!!

I'm a big girl now!

I am so so so proud of our Gwenny! She has been potty training forever, but recently we've had her in panties all day, everday. And she's done very well with minimal accidents. She loves wearing panties. Especially her Princess Aurora ones. Well last night I was putting her to bed, which is at times challenging. So we had read her book and said prayers, and she was tucked in-happily! So when I realized I had not yet taken her out of her panties and put her in a pull up I was scared. Either put her in her pull up, upset her, and try to get her back into bed, or just clean up her sheets in the morning. Well I was tired and wanted to go to bed so I decided to do the latter.
So when I heard her knocking on her door at 2:45 in the morning, I knew she had peed and was wanting to get out of wet jammies. But when I went to get her, she just said "mommy I have to pee!" So I hurried her to the bathroom where she went and then went back to bed!!!! So it's official! She's potty trained! Even though sometimes it is easier to have her just pee in a pull up rather than go running thru the mall to find a toilet and frantically get a liner on the toilet before she pees her pants, I am so excited to not be spending $40/month on pull ups anymore! Good job Gwenny, we love you so much!!!

byu girlfriends

So I feel like I've been blogging like crazy lately! I'm very feast and famine. But Diana just emailed me these pictures so I had to put them up. We've been getting together a lot lately. First for Diana's birthday, Happy Birthday Diana! We all went to Oregano's for some yummy pizza and salad. We were seated outside, and there was a car alarm that was going off the WHOLE time! Ryan went around and asked everyone in the restaraunt if it was their car, it wasn't. So we tried calling the towing company, and they weren't going to do anything, so we called the police, and they didn't do anything either. And if the car alarm wasn't bad enough, it started raining (yes is AZ) on us. But we still had so much fun and had some silly times in the parking lot afterwards.
Then we all got together again to eat at Tia Rosa's for Cinco De Mayo. So much fun!


So in other news, change is something I don't love. For the past year and a half I've been the secretary in Relief Society. This has really been the best calling I've ever had! I've got to work with two presidencies, and have become such good friends with those sisters I've worked with. In fact, the second Relief Society President I was with (our current RS prez) is my mom!!! It was such a good experience to work with her, and it was so convenient to do visits with her. But I'm now leaving RS, and I'm going to be the Mia Maid advisor. Don't get me wrong, I love YW and am so excited to work with them, I'm just really going to miss RS. So I'll go where you want me to go.....yadda yadda yadda

Ode to our moms!

So we know that nobody's perfect, but we think our moms are pretty close!

We want to say

Happy Mother's Day

to two of the best moms anybody could ask for!

Thank you for all you your love and support!

When I asked Ryan what to put on this post, he said "We wouldn' t be here without you!"


Thank you for not only being good mothers to us, but super duper grandmothers to our kids! They love you so much and get so excited everytime they see you!

"This ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift of love, and eagerness, yes, longing to express it in soul development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world. She who can paint a masterpiece or write a book that will influence millions deserves the admiration and the plaudits of mankind; but she who rears successfully a family of healthy, beautiful sons and daughters, whose influence will be felt through generation to come, whose immortal souls will exert an influence thoughout the ages long after paintings shall have faded, and books and statues whall have decayed or shall have been destroyed, deserves the highest honor that man can give, and the choicest blessings of God. In her high duty and service to humanity, endowing with immortality eternal spirits, she is co-partner with the Creater himself"

-David O. McKay